I invented this costume because I really, really, really wanted to wear the skirt.

This was my Friday daytime costume at Norwescon 2001. The basic concept behind this one was to do something that looked sort of like a late-18th century gown. The "Queen of the May" idea came about because I needed something to unify the outfit and raise it above just "a gown."

With the exception of the flowers, all of this stuff came out of my closet. There's a ruffled white gauze peasant blouse, a goth-wardrobe staple. The corset/bodice is just one of those cheap plastic-boned things, picked up for $20 off eBay. It was originally white, I bought it for another costume, but since I have little use for a white bodice, I threw it in a pot with a couple of boxes of purple RIT dye, and ended up with this lovely royal purple shade. The skirt came from the clearance rack at Ross; it's bias-cut satin and organza, and here is worn over a hoopskirt. It, too, was originally another color; some RIT aubergine dye overnight in the washer yielded this exquisite violet shade. The overgown is just a purple velvet dress that's lost its buttons; I put the bodice on over it, then pinned up the skirt to approximate the idea of a "polonaise" gown.

The flowers around the bodice and skirt are simply silk garlands picked up on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics. The flowers in the hair match; for those, I just bought some candle rings that went with the garlands, pulled the flowers off the rings, and pinned them into my hair. There's another aspect to this outfit I'm especially proud of, though it really doesn't show in this photo: I made bow-and-bead hairpins, by simply sliding teardrop "pearl" beads and bows of satin and organza onto bobby pins, then pinned them randomly into my hair. The overall effect was very bright, whimsical and spring-like.

The makeup stays with the bright, light, purple-and-white theme: sheer iridescent purple shadow on lids, white and lavender shadows on browbone, royal purple shadow for liner, with purple mascara and some purple glitter, and then a sheer violet lipstick. It was important that the makeup not be too heavy for this. The final touches come from the baroque pearl and amethyst necklace and earrings, which are custome pieces from my beloved Angelwear Creations.

Here's the most remarkable thing about this costume: I didn't put a stitch of sewing or a drop of glue into it. The skirt is fastened with four hidden safety pins, and there are three pins holding the garland over the hips in place. That's the extent of my "work" to create this costume. This is one of my favorite outfits I've ever done, and I'm really proud of how gorgeous it came out, and of my eye for "assembly."

For Norwescon 2002, I decided to give this costume another shot. I had really enjoyed doing it, and I felt it wasn't quite "done" yet the first time around. So I spent a little more time and sewing on it for this version.

The biggest change was to the overgown. I whip-stitched faux pearl garland along the neckline and down the front edges, and made "swags" of the pearls to go along with the polonaise effect. The polonaise itself was done properly, drawn up in back with faux flowers trimming the gather points. I left the blouse out for this version, which led to more period-correct cleavage, and I used the remainder of the faux pearl garland to make an extravagant necklace. All other elements remained the same, although my hair was actually dyed purple at the time and blended beautifully with the colors of the outfit. I had some trouble getting the hair to look as nice as it had the first time, though.

As version 1 had, this version brought lavish praise. After two versions, I was prepared to retire the concept (or at least put it on sabbatical for a few years). But things didn't work out that way.

Came time for Norwescon 2003. I was struggling with several conflicting ideas, including a desire for an all-rococo weekend and a flower fairy I'd done at Orycon the previous fall. Eventually ideas separated and merged in a way that led to this, a re-imagining of the Queen of the May that still had many of the same elements.

The inspirations for this specific version were mid-18th century ballet costumes and a rococo painting of a girl on a swing. The purple ballskirt, purple brocade bodice, and purple flowers remained the central elements, but it had a greater element of whimsy and fantasy than the previous versions did. The skirt was worn over a huge ruffled white hoopskirt, and the layers were pulled up, fastened and decorated with assorted purple flowers and bows I made of wired purple organza ribbon. (How do you make a rococo outfit? You put bows on everything.) The top edge of the bodice was also decorated with flowers, and the bodice was worn over an off-shoulder gauze peasant blouse (bought at Target for all of 10 bucks), which I made slightly more period-correct by pulling the bell cuffs up to elbow length and pinning them in place with more bows and trimming with flowers. The swags of garland over the skirt stayed, but instead of wrapping the remaining garland behind my neck, it went diagonally over the right shoulder and blended into the swags over the skirt. I also carried a bouquet of purple flowers, wrapped in more of of the purple organza ribbon.

The Angelwear Creations pearl and amethyst jewelry came back yet again, with an added lavender ribbon choker tied in a bow. The hair was quite different and a departure from the fairly faithful period feel of the rest of the outfit: I wore custom-made ringlet falls in black, violet, and lavender from Girlgoth.com, both falls worn on the top of my head in a cascade. Yet more flowers were pinned around the base of the falls, in the same sort of flower "tiara" I had made for the previous incarnations. The makeup was fairly similar to the other versions, but in keeping with the more fantastical feel, all exposed skin was dusted lightly with shimmery white mica powder, and eye and lip makeup was topped with a healthy dusting of silver microglitter.

This version was just terribly fun, and as a result I'm not sure I'm ready to retire this concept entirely. The skirt in this version was what I had wanted it to be (but hadn't managed to do) for the first two versions, and I have figured out how to modify the sleeves of the velvet overdress to be more 18th century in style (and perhaps even to get a sacque effect). And the purple dragonfly wings will need more outings, and what better to go with than this? Stay tuned.